


How You Say "I Love You"

by mikkimouse



Series: Valentine's Extravaganza III [12]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot Spencer's Cooking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Trope Bingo Round 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22705204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Parker groaned. "Let's just go to bed."Hardison turned them toward the bedroom. "Don't have to tell me twice."Eliot really,reallywanted to follow, but he ducked out from under Hardison's arm. "I'll meet you in there. Got to do something in the kitchen first."
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Series: Valentine's Extravaganza III [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619959
Comments: 43
Kudos: 292
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	How You Say "I Love You"

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the "Food and Cooking" square on my [Trope Bingo board](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/17415.html), because what better to fill that square with than Eliot Spencer making a midnight meal for Parker and Hardison?

They staggered through the door into the apartment, leaning so heavily on one another that Eliot wasn't sure which of them was holding the other two up. He only knew that he was so dead on his feet that if it weren't for Parker and Hardison, he'd probably have faceplanted a half dozen times on his way down the hall. 

The job hadn't been _much_ harder than usual—then again, all their jobs were hard to varying degrees—but for some reason this one left Eliot bone-tired in a way that he typically wasn't. _Getting too old for this shit_ , he thought to himself, and then shook it off. As long as Parker and Hardison were doing this, he was doing this. Simple as that. 

Hardison flipped on the light, and they all stood in the living room for a solid ten seconds. 

Parker groaned. "Let's just go to bed." 

Hardison turned them toward the bedroom. "Don't have to tell me twice." 

Eliot really, _really_ wanted to follow, but he ducked out from under Hardison's arm. "I'll meet you in there. Got to do something in the kitchen first." 

"Man, whatever it is can wait until _morning_ , don't go cooking a damn four-course meal right now." 

Eliot glared at him. "I'll be ten minutes. You need to shower, anyway." 

Hardison opened his mouth to say something else, but Parker patted his chest. "Don't be too long," she said to Eliot. "I'm not dragging you to bed this time." 

"I won't be," he assured her, and he went on into the kitchen. 

Eliot _wanted_ to go start a bath or maybe just fall into bed, but none of them had eaten recently and he didn't want to wake up starving in a couple of hours. Or really, he didn't want _Hardison_ to wake up in a couple of hours bitching about being hungry; God only knew what he'd try to make in order to fix that. 

He grabbed bread out of the pantry and leftover ham and turkey out of the fridge, as well as other sandwich fixings, and set a few cups of milk to simmer on the stove while he put together four sandwiches. They weren't even close to his best work, but they were better than fast food and would be filling enough to hold them all until breakfast.

Eliot lightly toasted each of the sandwiches and cut them into quarters (specifically triangles, because that was Parker's preference), then dumped several tablespoons of his homemade hot cocoa mix into the simmering milk and whisked it in. He poured it into three mugs and topped Parker's and Hardison's with enough marshmallows to give someone cardiac arrest. He arranged the sandwiches on a plate, put the plate and all three mugs on a tray, and checked the time. 

Nine minutes exactly. _Ha._

He turned everything off in the kitchen and put the dishes in the sink for Morning Eliot to deal with, and carried the tray into the bedroom. Parker and Hardison were already in bed, unsurprisingly, although both of them still being awake was impressive. 

Parker sat straight up when Eliot walked in. "You made food?!" 

"It's been three days since any of us had a decent meal," Eliot said gruffly, and set the tray on the bed. "It's not much, but—" 

Parker already had a sandwich triangle hanging out of her mouth, with another sandwich in one hand and her mug of cocoa in the other. Hardison just had the cocoa, both his hands cupped around the mug while he closed his eyes and breathed in. 

Eliot shook his head and stripped down to his boxers before joining them in bed, snagging a sandwich for himself. 

Parker swallowed her second sandwich and looked at him, eyes suspiciously wet. "You made us food." 

Eliot took a bite of his sandwich; it _might_ have been the best thing he'd tasted in the past week. "I always make you food."

"Nah, man," Hardison said from Parker's other side. "You made us sandwiches and hot chocolate. You made us _dinner_ in _bed_. That's like next level." 

His face heated, and Eliot hoped it was dim enough in the bedroom that neither of them would notice. "Yeah, so you're not waking me up in an hour when you're starving."

Parker kissed his cheek. "You're cute when you blush." 

"Aw, Eliot's blushing?" Hardison leaned around with his phone. "Hang on, I need a picture." 

Eliot grabbed his hot cocoa off the tray and held the mug in front of his face. "Put that damn thing down before I throw it across the room." 

"You're also cute when you're trying to pretend you don't love us," Parker said. 

Eliot grumbled and sipped his cocoa. "It's just dinner. You don't have to make such a big deal out of it." 

"Hey," Hardison said in his serious tone. "Look at me."

Eliot did with the greatest reluctance. 

"It's a big deal." Hardison held up a sandwich. "This? This is how you say 'I love you.' And we know that. And we love you, too, you big grumpy butt." 

Parker rested her head on Eliot's shoulder. "You're our favorite grumpy butt, you know that, right?" 

He probably shouldn't be so happy about being called a _grumpy butt_ , but Parker and Hardison both looked so fond when they said it. His chest felt too full, and Eliot found himself fighting a smile. 

He kept his head down and grabbed another sandwich, but from the grins Parker and Hardison shared, Eliot guessed he hadn't been successful at hiding the stupid smile on his own face. 

He sat back against his pillow with the sandwich and his mug of cocoa, basking in the familiarity and comfort of food and _them._ "Just be quiet and eat your damn dinner."

**Author's Note:**

> My apologies for missing yesterday's update; it was a long day and I didn't have as much time to edit and post as I thought I would. So I'll be posting through Sunday instead of Saturday. 
> 
> Come see me on:  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mad_madam_m)  
> [Tumblr](https://mad-madam-m.tumblr.com/)  
> [Dreamwidth](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/)  
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